Fried Lies

Years 3-4

One-off workshop

It’s not often you get full permission to lie, but in this playful workshop fibbing is encouraged! Students are introduced to the humorous poem Fried Lies by Harry Laing, an acclaimed children’s writer, poet and comedic performer based in the Southern Tablelands of NSW. After a hilariously dishonest ideation session, students use descriptive imagery and humour to cook up their own tall tales, writing poems inspired by Fried Lies.

• Australian Curriculum Outcomes

  Description texCreate literary texts that explore students’ own experiences and imagining (ACELT1607) 

  Use comprehension strategies to build literal and inferred meaning to expand content knowledge, integrating and linking ideas and analysing and evaluating texts (ACELT1692)

• NSW Syllabus Outcomes

  EN2-CWT-01

  Plans, creates and revises written texts for imaginative purposes, using text features, sentence-level grammar, punctuation and word-level language for a target audience.

  EN2-VOCAB-01

  Builds knowledge and use of Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary through interacting, wide reading and writing, and by defining and analysing words.

• Sample Student Writing

  For breakfast I eat fried iPads

  Lunch is sweet potato printers

  Dinner is a cooked piano keys on a bed of carrots

  I have a pet cheetah with pink and green fur

  I once saw a fidget as big as a city.

  My classes are made of solid gold

  My favourite sport is sitting on Mars

  I think my brother's eyes go square when he plays games. 

  So if you’re going to tell a lie

  Make sure it's as big as a pie 

  Otherwise your brain will fry

  And all the water will dry. 

  -Maiya, 9 years old, HERRD Homeschool Group T4 2024

Available in Semester 1, 2026.